Wal-Mart seeking green light for expansions

NORTH COUNTY -- Wal-Mart's plans to turn two stores in Oceanside
and Vista into massive grocery-retail destinations known as
Supercenters seem to be sailing through the cities' review
processes, officials said last week, though there have been hints
that the Vista project could face an outside challenge.

To date, plans for each store have been evaluated by city
planning departments and most of the hurdles are cleared, officials
in Vista and Oceanside said.

The Bettonville, Ark.-based retailer is pressing forward with
the upgrades despite disappointing sales companywide and frequent
opposition to its building plans. A proposed store near the San
Elijo Hills area of San Marcos was nixed three years ago by a
voter-led initiative that reversed the city's approval.

Wal-Mart's target date for completing the Vista and Oceanside
expansions is "no later than mid-2009," said John Mendez, the
retailer's Southern California spokesman. Until recently, the
company had been vague about when the work might be done.

The two stores would be the chain's first Supercenters in North
County.

So far, the projects have faced little of the public opposition
the discount giant has encountered in other communities. While
Wal-Mart supporters laud its low prices, union groups and other
critics have blasted the company over issues such as labor
standards, unfair competition and community blight.

Last month, an attorney who has waged legal battles over
Wal-Mart stores in other cities sent Vista a letter, questioning a
procedural step with the project. The attorney did not return
several phone calls last week and it is unclear in this case who he
represents.

New construction, old approvals

In March, Wal-Mart -- the world's largest retailer -- announced
it would increase the size of the two North County stores by about
30,000 square feet to sell groceries alongside its normal retail
stock.

The North County stores slated for upgrades are at 1800
University Drive, in Vista's North County Square shopping center,
and at 705 College Blvd., near Highway 76 in Oceanside.

It's still too early to say when construction could begin,
Mendez said.

In Oceanside, Wal-Mart needs only to obtain a building permit to
move forward, Deputy City Manager Mike Blessing said Wednesday. In
1993, when the city originally approved the store, a future
expansion was part of the deal, so the project won't go before the
City Council or Planning Commission now, Blessing said.

"At this point it's strictly ministerial," Blessing said. "They
have all their approvals, based on the 1993 approval of the
project."

Ministerial decisions are those in which a local government has
no discretion; usually, if certain conditions are met, a permit
must be issued.

Jim Zicaro, an Oceanside building official, said he wouldn't be
surprised if Wal-Mart had its permit in hand next month.

The Vista store has a similar history. When the city approved it
in the mid-1990s, the project included the right to expand in the
future, said John Conley, Vista's director of community
development.

Earlier this year, when Wal-Mart decided to exercise that
option, Conley said, the city asked the company to submit a "plot
plan," an application used by city staff to ensure the proposed
work was consistent with the city's previous approval.

Conley signed off on that plan earlier this month.

"From Wal-Mart's position, it's pretty straightforward," Conley
said. "I don't think there's a lot of discretion that the city has
as to whether they can or can't expand."

Ordinarily, Wal-Mart would need only administrative approvals to
proceed, Conley said, but a wrinkle was introduced Wednesday, when
Planning Commissioner Nick Ashcraft appealed city staff's
decision.

The commission is tentatively scheduled to review the project in
September, Conley said. After that, the company can submit a
building permit application.

The Planning Commission's discretion is limited to the expansion
area, and any changes made since it was originally approved, Conley
said.

Ashcraft said Wednesday that he doesn't oppose the expansion --
"I like the idea of a superstore" -- but he wants to prod the
company into making some architectural upgrades.

"I look at it as maybe the only opportunity we're going to get
to make it look at little nicer," Ashcraft said.

Right now, he said, it's "just the ultimate big box store. There
really wasn't a lot of panache put into the building."

Strong emotions

Wal-Mart has been known to elicit strong emotions from both
critics and supporters.

In March 2004, San Marcos residents successfully blocked a
proposed Wal-Mart in the southwest corner of the city after
gathering enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot.

Earlier this year, the San Diego City Council effectively banned
Supercenters from setting up shop in that city, although Mayor
Jerry Sanders vetoed the ban.

In Vista, there has been a hint that opposition may appear. On
July 26, the city received a letter from John McClendon -- a Laguna
Hills attorney who has waged other legal battles over Wal-Mart
stores -- stating that recent changes to the Vista project's
environmental documents require City Council approval. Without it,
McClendon said, Vista would be in violation of the California
Environmental Quality Act.

Jonathan Stone, Vista's assistant city attorney, sent a written
reply a week later, stating that McClendon had "misread" the law.
Stone also warned the attorney of potential conflict of interest,
stating that McClendon's partner has represented the city of Vista
in other land-use matters.

McClendon did not return calls or an e-mail seeking comment for
this story. His client was not named in the letter.

On Thursday, a land-use analyst with the international law firm
Latham & Watkins also inquired about appealing Vista's Wal-Mart
project, and was told that a planning commissioner had already done
so, Conley said. The analyst did not return a call seeking comment
for this story.

San Jacinto City Attorney Jeff Ballinger, whose city was sued in
2004 over a Wal-Mart Supercenter by a group calling itself
Communities Against Blight, said that "virtually every Wal-Mart
project that's before a city is likely to be challenged by
somebody." McClendon represented the plaintiffs in that case.

The San Jacinto lawsuit, which aimed to block the store, was
unsuccessful, Ballinger said.

When told about McClendon's letter to Vista, Ballinger said that
"Vista can pretty much expect that there's going to be a lawsuit
involved in this."

Blessing, Oceanside's deputy city manager, said his city had not
received a similar letter.

Conley said the Vista store expansion is, for the most part, a
done deal.

"The opportunity to challenge the expansion was back in the
'90s," he said.